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Ann Coulter: How to Promote Bigotry With Statistical Sleight of Hand
Pulling Ann Coulter's teeth.
When I first had this letter from Ann Coulter brought to my attention I wasn't quite sure how to approach it. I knew I wanted to make a comment about it but felt sure most people who pay any attention to her already know she's a bigot if not an outright racist and that she feeds people with similar mindsets some very tainted information.
What may be less well known, and what makes her so effective with both her ardent sycophantic followers and ignorant fence sitters is statistical misdirection. As with most of her media savvy friends - those 'race realists' firmly camped out within the right wing big tent - she denies the very existence of systemic racism but embraces the concept of reverse racism. If we fall for this obvious DARVO it makes it virtually impossible for us to say anything about her racism unless it can be shown her claims are obviously false.
Most people, while likely fairly literate, are less likely to be knowledgeable about how statistics are used and abused, so will accept official sounding numbers as being accurate and informative. It becomes a simple matter for someone intending to obfuscate the real information to mix and match samples with different focuses or by using unrelated samples that sound related.
Here is the comment from Coulter:
"Even under Rubio's scheme, all the children born to the 11 million newly legalized illegals will be instant citizens, able to collect welfare for their whole families and vote as soon as they are old enough.
Which won't be long: The vast majority of illegal aliens are Hispanic, and Hispanics have a higher teen birthrate than any other ethnic group. In California, a majority of all Hispanic births are illegitimate. That's a lot of Democratic voters coming."
Even a quick look at the quote tells us she knows her intended audience quite well. She knows that with a little leading they will link illegal immigrants to unwed and teenage mothers, unwed mothers to disadvantaged unemployable or lazy children, lazy children to the use of welfare and welfare recipients to voting for the Democratic party. To validate the danger of legalizing illegal immigrants, Coulter throws a few statistical tidbits into the mix.
Her first statistic is the number of illegal immigrants currently living in the US, 11 million. That number is scary but accurate:
In summary, an estimated 11.5 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States in January 2011 compared to a revised 2010 estimate of 11.6 million.
She then goes on to tell us that most of those illegals are Hispanic, a vague comment designed to narrow the sample to a specific subset while still keeping it scary. Even if we grant that all the immigrants from specific countries are likely to be Hispanic the actual number is reduced significantly to 8.57 million.
Here comes the reason she wanted to specify Hispanics, their relatively high teenage birth rate of 49.4 per 1000. As Coulter states, it is indeed the highest of all. Of course the birth rate does not give us an idea of actual births without knowing the populations. To get an idea of the population we need to make a few calculations related to Coulter's comments.
The number of female illegal immigrants less than 19 is around 12% of the total number. You'll note I didn't include 19 year old but I did include girls under 15. This is a limitation of the information source I'm using. The number of teenage female illegal immigrants of childbearing age should be around 1,028,400. That needs to be further reduced to just Hispanic females. 8,570,000/11,600,000*100=73.9% so there would be about 760,000 teenage female Hispanic illegal immigrants. At 49.4 per 1000 per year, the number of pregnant teenage Hispanic illegal immigrants would be around 37,544
All of the numbers Coulter uses up til this point are national numbers. She switches to a smaller more specific sample, that of California teenage single mothers, which may or may not reflect that of the larger national sample, in order to set up the welfare connection.
The number of illegal immigrants matching the criteria set by Coulter is tiny in comparison to the scary big number she originally mentioned, yet the way it is presented increases rather than decreases the apocalyptic image Coulter is trying to leave.
The number 37,544 is even less scary when compared to the number of Americans of voting age - 234,564,000. The number of new Hispanic welfare bums voting for the Democrats, even if we assume all children born to unwed teenage mothers end up on welfare and vote Democratic, is less than .016% of the voting public.
The best way to pull Coulter's teeth is to work the numbers.


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Garages are one of the most important multi-purpose rooms in any home. Their primary purpose may be to store cars, but they often serve as storage areas for garden tools, hardware, bicycles, and other sports equipment. The hard part, of course, is keeping everything organized. Fortunately, there are some great garage storage ideas to help you do just that.
First and foremost, you'll want to tackle the biggest space waster; the vehicles parked in the garage. To maximize space, try Racor's ProPark Parking Guide. With just one mat per vehicle, you'll be able to ensure your car or truck is parked in just the right spot every time.
Home Improvement Items
In addition to parking spaces, garages often double as workspaces for home improvement projects and a variety of home and garden maintenance work. But with so many specialized tools, keeping track of everything can be a real headache. Fortunately, Racor offers a number of excellent garage storage ideas to keep your workspace clean and organized.
The Folding Work Bench offers dedicated workspace without taking up precious floor space, while the Folding Work Station offers the additional benefit of two additional storage racks and two paper towel holders above the workspace. The Can Rack is a great option for organizing lose cans like spray paints, bug sprays, and aerosol sealants. Racor also offers a variety of hooks for organizing large tools like shovels as well as specialty hooks for safely storing expensive power tools.
For gardening enthusiasts, the wall-mounted Garden Tool Rack offers a convenient way to store all of your gardening supplies. From shovels and rakes to trowels and pruners, it all fits neatly for easy access. Larger items like wheelbarrows can be stored sing the Wheelbarrow/ Ladder Hook. Installation is quick and easy, and the results are more floor space and great organization. Keep garden hoses and electrical cords neat and free of damaging kinks with the Hose Rack and Cord Wrap Holder.
Bicycles and Other Sports Gear
Bicycles are great fun, but their storage can be awkward. Racor offers a variety of bike storage options, including ceiling- and wall-mounted racks, hooks, and hangers as well as standard floor racks and stands. Racor also offers a variety of racks and holders for other sports equipment like the Tennis/ Racquet Sports Rack, the Fishing Rod Holder, the Golf Club Rack, and a variety of Ski Racks.
Specialty Items
Some of the most challenging items to store are over-sized and heavy items like lawn furniture, large power tools, lawn mowers, and tires. Racor's Heavy Lift and Heavy Duty Hook make organizing these tough-to-store items a snap. The Heavy Lift's four by four foot platform can easily be lowered using the included hand crank, improving both organization and accessibility.
Finally, for the really organizationally inclined, multi-tasking storage options are a fantastic garage storage idea. Save space and time with Racor's Bike and Ladder Lift and Catch-All Basket.
While tackling the chaos in the garage may not be your favorite task, using the garage storage ideas mentioned here will help transform this chore into the opportunity to once and for all organize your garage. From specialty racks to multi-function lifts, Racor's garage storage ideas will help you make the most of your garage space.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sunday 20 September 2020
20 December 2012
Today, staff of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) launched a survey on disclosures. The survey is directed at preparers and users and others interested in or affected by disclosure requirements. It is aimed at assisting the IASB to gain a clearer picture on the perceived "disclosure problem" in advance of the IASB's forthcoming public Discussion Forum on that matter. The public forum will take place on 28 January 2013 in London, UK.
All responses to the survey will be confidential and no information published will be attributable to any individual or organisation. The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete (depending on the amount of additional information you may wish to provide).
To allow sufficient time to evaluate results in advance of the Discussion Forum, the survey closes on 15 January 2013.
The survey can be accessed via this link.
For more information about the Discussion Forum, click here.
If you want to review the full survey before you complete it attached are two copies: one for users and one for preparers.
Each assumes you agree that there is a disclosure problem and, in the case of users, that you use annual reports. If you feel you don't fit into one of these categories but would still like a copy of the full survey, please contact us and we can send you a tailored version.
© IFRS Foundation.


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Back to BIRT FAQ Index
- 1 Application Server
- 2 BIRT Viewer
- 3 Other Integrations
Application Server
Q: How do I install the BIRT Report Engine in my app server?
The Eclipse (BIRT) Reporting Engine (ERE) is a series of Java class files that can be deployed in any Java/J2EE environment – this could be within a server based application, or a client-side application. The ERE is the runtime component of BIRT – when you call it in the context of your application, you pass it a report design. The ERE then will access the data source, retrieve the data, do the required aggregations/sorting, etc., and then format the report for presentation as HTML or PDF, for example.
The BIRT report viewer is included with the report designer and is used to preview reports. It doubles as an example of how to integrate the Report Engine into a J2EE application.
Q: How do I install BIRT in Tomcat?
See complete instructions on the BIRT Integration pages.
Q: How do I install BIRT in JBoss?
Take the viewer deployment from the BIRT designer (as described for Tomcat), and copy it to your JBoss deploy directory as viewer.war.
However, BIRT uses an older version of the Rhino scripting engine, and this causes a conflict with the version installed with JBoss. To work around this temporarily, put BIRT's js.jar in JBoss's server/default/lib.
BIRT Viewer
Q: Why does a red asterisk appear next to some of my parameters in the Viewer's parameter UI?
The asterisk indicates that a parameter is required. A parameter is required if:
- The parameter is a string, the default value is blank, and the parameter does not allow blank values.
- The parameter is other than a string, the default value is blank, and the parameter does not allow null values.
Note that a blank value is considered to be a blank string ("") for string values, but a (database null) value (unknown) for non-string types such as numbers and dates.
Other Integrations
Q: Can I use BIRT within a Rich Client Application (RCP)?
Community member Stavros Kounis made an Eclipse plug-in that starts BIRT's Viewer webapp using the Eclipse internal application server and views reports inside RCP using an editor that contains a browser control. He posted it on his blog at http://tools.osmosis.gr/blog.
Q: Can I store report designs in a location other than the file system?
Not at present, but we are looking into possible changes to support this. Also, Eclipse itself may be looking into this.
Q: Do BIRT reports need to be compiled before they are run?
No, there is no compile step. The BIRT Report Engine directly executes the report design XML file. (This is one reason that BIRT uses interpreted JavaScript instead of compiled Java as its scripting language.)
Q: Can BIRT reports be saved on disk?
Reports in release 1 are run on demand, then discarded. A BIRT report run creates the report, converts it to HTML or PDF, then discards the report. A later release will add the ability to save the report document on disk.


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ACCIONA's results in 2018 and how its strategy is able to respond to some of the major global challenges of humanity: Integrated Report, Sustainability Report and Annual Accounts
Few people know that the district of Chorrillos, one of 43 which make up the Peruvian province of Lima, owes its name to underground currents of freshwater that flow through the city's drains and out to Agua Dulce beach, one of the best known resorts in the metropolis. In the water business of ACCIONA we have contributed to recover a natural heritage that was in serious danger thanks to La Chira waste water treatment plant, which will treat wastewater from two and a half million people.
The contract includes the construction and subsequent operation of the world's largest waste water treatment plant, located in Atotonilco, in the state of Hidalgo.
Reverse osmosis sea water desalination plant to supply drinking water to the city of Adelaide and its surrounding area.
The original G&AWS scheme was developed in 1895 when C. Y. O'Connor engineered a scheme to deliver 23 MLD of untreated water to the Goldfields region through the construction of the Mundaring Weir, 530 kilometres of 30" pipeline, and delivered using eight steam-driven pumping stations. A world class engineering feat of the era! Since then this water system has been progressively upgraded, the new Mundaring Water Treatment Plant and pumping stations being the latest of these improvements to be implemented.
Network maintenance service in Lima, for drinking water and sewer systems in the South Services Department, which comprises eight districts of the Peruvian capital, grouped into the Surquillo Services Centre.


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Advertising/PR student wins Renaissance Award Thursday, February 11, 2010
Miles Ritenour is also first-ever 'virtual intern' for Pittsburgh public relations agency
As an advertising/public relations major at Point Park, senior Miles Ritenour has pursued all types of opportunities to get experience in his field as a student.
Now, that initiative and ambition is paying off in big ways, with Ritenour receiving a prestigious award and landing a cutting-edge internship with a local public relations agency.
Ritenour, a native of Latrobe, Pa., has been named the Renaissance Scholar of the Year by the Pittsburgh area chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, chosen among applicants from about 20 Western Pennsylvania colleges and universities. The award includes a $2,000 check.
In addition, he is the first-ever virtual intern at WordWrite Communications, one of the Pittsburgh area's fastest-growing PR agencies.
For the Renaissance Scholar award, Ritenour applied at the suggestion of Point Park Prof. Bob O'Gara, for whom the award is named. For his submission, Ritenour sent in two letters of recommendation and his transcript, wrote four essays and filled out a questionnaire.
"I think I have a really broad internship experience. I have everything from working with non-profit organizations, ad agencies and the City of Pittsburgh Ethics Board up to now working with a PR agency and the Penguins," Ritenour explained. "I have a pretty strong academic record and my GPA is good. My intern experience combined with my recommendations punched the ticket to win the award."
O'Gara describes Ritenour as "a bright, hard working young man who has taken every advantage of the Point Park University experience that we offer all students to excel in their chosen professions and serve our communities."
"Miles has taken leadership posts in student organizations, worked as an editor and writer for student media, volunteered and worked for local professional organizations and worked in university supervised internships that provide real-world professional experiences," O'Gara said. ""His leadership skills and intellectual advancement are well recognized with this award and he will continue to both enhance the Point Park University reputation and serve as a model for our dedication to the success of our students."
Ritenour applied for the WordWrite internship after meeting one of the agency's account executives, Deanna Ferrari, at a Public Relations Student Society of America event. As a virtual intern, Ritenour handles normal intern tasks but does so from outside the office using email, instant messaging and phone calls. He handles press releases, updates client Facebook and Twitter accounts, builds media lists and compiles editorial calendars.
In announcing the internship on the WordWrite Web site, agency president and CEO Paul Furiga described Ritenour as "ideal for this position."
"He not only has the passion and savvy for public relations, but also understands the new trends in social media," Furiga said. "That coupled with his drive for success makes him a perfect fit for the virtual internship."
Ritenour also works as a media relations intern with the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, issuing media credentials, providing game statistics and sending out notices of press conferences.
Ritenour credits his success to Point Park faculty members, professionals who offered guidance during internships -- and his mother and father.
"My parents preached to me to work as hard as I can and take advantage of all opportunities," Ritenour said.
Article by Alisha Valeri
Top photo by Christopher Rolinson
Lower photo courtesy of the PRSA


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"I grew up wanting to fly," says Graham Bowen-Davies. "I guess I just settled for being an engineer."
He's standing on an indoor track in southern Maryland, watching a giant helicopter take flight. At the end of each of its four spindly arms — arms he helped design and build — a giant rotor churns the air. In the cockpit sits the engine: a 0.7-horsepower, 135-pound graduate student named Kyle Gluesenkamp.
Gluesenkamp is pedaling like crazy to keep the rotors spinning and the craft aloft.
Bowen-Davies and dozens of his fellow students from the University of Maryland are chasing one of aviation's last milestones: the Sikorsky Prize. The American Helicopter Society (AHS) has promised $250,000 to the team that can build a human-powered helicopter. All it has to do is hover for a minute, reach a height of 3 meters (about 10 feet), and stay in a 10-meter box.
Turns out, that's harder than it sounds. The prize has been unclaimed for more than three decades.
The Flying Turtle
The University of Maryland joined the race in late 2008. Inderjit Chopra, director of the university's Rotorcraft Center, recruited a handful of graduate students and undergrads to take on the challenge. They named their helicopter Gamera after a flying turtle from a Japanese monster movie (U of M's mascot is a terrapin).
In the spring of 2011, after two years of work and 20 failed attempts, Gamera finally flew ... for four seconds.
"We went out for drinks," Bowen-Davies remembers.
Since then, about 75 students have worked on Gamera. They've slowly chiseled away at their own record. In June, Gluesenkamp flew for 49.9 seconds; another flight cleared 3 feet. Four long years of work, and not much altitude. That can get exhausting.
"At some point, you don't want to do it any more," Bowen-Davies says. "You've been going all week, and you're dirty and grimy and your fingers are cut up — but you have to do your part. You have a commitment to the team."
The Canadian Challengers
More than 300 miles north, near Tottenham, Ontario, another group of young engineers is also chasing the Sikorsky Prize. Their helicopter is named Atlas and their team is much smaller.
"It's only eight people, but it's equivalent to an army of a hundred," says Todd Reichert, leader of Team Atlas. Everyone, he says, wants "to challenge themselves and do something that other people have said is impossible."
Doing the impossible is a passion for Reichert. In 2010, he and his colleague Cameron Robertson built and flew the world's first human-powered ornithopter — an aircraft that flies by flapping.
Now Reichert and Robertson have cobbled together public donations and corporate sponsorship to finance Team Atlas.
"Honestly, what we're trying to accomplish here is nothing short of historic," Reichert told his team on the first day of construction, in May. "We need to both design and construct far better than any team has done before."
Light, Like The Wrights
The most famous pioneers of human flight, Wilbur and Orville Wright, had an easier task than these engineers. Their plane could use its forward momentum to climb a ramp of fresh air. Gamera and Atlas must rise through their own turbulence.
But the central problem is the same: "One of the big challenges for the Wright brothers was getting an engine strong enough to move them through the air, but light enough that they can actually get off the ground," Bowen-Davies says. "In that respect, we're no different — we've got the same problem. Our engine just happens to be a person."
Both teams use toothpick-thin carbon fiber tubes, Styrofoam and balsa wood. Though the finished helicopters are more than 100 feet across, they weigh less than 100 pounds.
Gamera is so light that the draft from an air-conditioning unit can swamp a flight. And on its way down, it tends to catch air like a falling piece of paper, drifting out of its 10-meter box and into a wall — or sometimes, into a spectator. No one has ever been hurt, but the structure has suffered some nasty breaks.
"That's when we learn — when things break, we know we have to make them stronger," Bowen-Davies says.
Don't Eat The Pizza
More people have walked on the moon than have successfully flown a human-powered helicopter. Just like their crafts, these pilots have to be light and strong.
Earlier this year, an Olympic cyclist called up Gamera's adviser, Chopra, and volunteered as a pilot. He offered to come out to Maryland once the games were over. Chopra turned him down: At 175 pounds, the Olympian was too heavy.
"I said, 'Don't waste your time,' " Chopra says.
"[Chopra] was looking for children — middle-school children — because they are so light and full of energy," says Elizabeth Weiner.
A graduate student, Weiner helps build Gamera's rotor blades and coaches its pilots. She tests their power outfit, gives them instructions during flight tests and yells at them when she sees them eating pizza.
"It's more of a joke," Weiner says, "but a little bit serious as well."
This summer, Weiner has been busy training newcomer Henry Enerson, a freshman at Maryland and former middle-distance runner. He weighs just 120 pounds and can produce 0.6 horsepower for a full minute.
An Impossible Challenge
When you add up all the late nights, cut fingers and crashes involved in building a human-powered helicopter that can get only a few feet off the ground, it makes you wonder: What's the point?
"It's an engineering challenge," Weiner says. "Nobody's ever done it before."
Sure, pursuing the Sikorsky Prize might inspire innovations in ultralight composite materials. Sure, the project has provided a hands-on learning opportunity for scores of students. But that's not what keeps them engaged.
"It's really an opportunity to inspire people and change the way they think about what's possible and what's impossible," says Reichert of Team Atlas.
Up, Up and Away
At the end of August, the Gamera and Atlas teams both schedule a week of test flights — Gamera at an indoor track, Atlas at an indoor soccer field.
The Canadians hope the week will bring Atlas's first takeoff. They're eager to test their design innovation: steering controls that minimize the drift problems that plague Gamera.
The Maryland team seems less enthusiastic. The students are weary, and there's talk that this will be Gamera's last round of flights. After four years, they're nowhere near the Sikorsky Prize's height requirement.
"We're probably not going to hit 10 feet," Weiner says. "We're going to really try, but it's going to be difficult."
Just in case, Weiner transforms herself into a human yardstick, decorating her shirt and pants with colorful tape at 1-foot intervals. Bowen-Davies tells Enerson he'll be ecstatic if the pilot reaches 5 feet — a respectable foot-and-a-half higher than the team's record.
Enerson hops in the cockpit, clips in his shoes and starts pedaling. He easily sails past the previous record, hits 5 feet, then keeps going. Weiner, standing on tip-toe with her hand stretched upward, can't reach the craft. They make it to 8 feet before drifting back down.
"That's really flying!" Bowen-Davies exclaims. "We wanted it to happen, but we thought, 'Maybe it's not going to be us.' But now, there's no reason we can't do it."
For the first time, the Sikorsky Prize seems within reach.
Back in Ontario, on the same day, Team Atlas has a triumph of its own: getting off the ground for the first time.
But it faces an extra challenge. The team can rent the field only during the day, so every night, it dismantles the craft, and the next morning, rebuilds it. It's difficult to make the adjustments Atlas needs.
Meanwhile, in Maryland, Gamera reaches 9 feet, then 9.4 — then a crash ends the week of test flights. Atlas meets a similar fate, breaking two spars.
Both teams are already redesigning and rebuilding. There is no talk of quitting now. They still have their eyes on the Sikorsky Prize.
In September, Reichert and Robertson took a break from chasing the Sikorsky Prize to race superlight bikes at Battle Mountain (Reichert holds the collegiate human-powered land speed record) and then to appear on Mythbusters. They say they'll be back working on Atlas soon. The University of Maryland's Team Gamera headed back to the drawing board as school started; it's gearing up for another round of flight tests this winter.
So, we humans have been able to fly with the help of motors for more than a century, and yet we cannot seem to let go of the dream of soaring like birds on our own power. NPR's Adam Cole brings us this story of some young engineers who are racing to build a person-powered helicopter.
ADAM COLE, BYLINE: A few feet above the floor of an enormous gymnasium in southern Maryland, Colin Gore is flying.
ELIZABETH WEINER: You're climbing, good. Keep going up. Push it. Go, Colin, go.
COLE: He's gritting his teeth and pedaling furiously as his teammate, Elizabeth Weiner, watches from the ground.
WEINER: Keep going. Keep pushing it.
COLE: Gore is suspended below an enormous skeletal flying machine that's more than 100 feet across. He's pedaling with his feet and his hands to spin the four enormous rotors that keep his fragile craft in the air. But he's getting tired and begins to drift down towards a wall.
WEINER: Back down, back down, back down. Are you OK?
COLIN GORE: I'm OK.
WEINER: Oh, man.
COLE: Weiner and her teammates, all engineering students from the University of Maryland, are chasing one of aviation's last prizes, the Sikorsky Prize. The American Helicopter Society has put up a purse of $250,000, hoping to inspire young engineers and spur innovations in lightweight technology. To win, the Maryland team has to build a human-powered helicopter that can reach a height of 10 feet and hover above the ground for a minute without drifting. They have been trying since 2008.
GRAHAM BOWEN-DAVIES: At that stage, I didn't know how hard a helicopter was. I've learned how hard it is. I know how hard it is now.
COLE: Ph.D. student Graham Bowen-Davies says it took two years of frenzied work before they could coax their helicopter into the air. They named the craft Gamera after a flying turtle from a Japanese monster movie. Gamera's first flight was only four seconds long and just a few inches high. That was early last year. Now, more than 75 students have helped with the project and they still haven't reached their goal.
BOWEN-DAVIES: That's when we learn. We know when something breaks that we need to make it stronger.
COLE: Their failure isn't that surprising. Engineers all over the world have been after the Sikorsky Prize for three decades and they haven't even come close. Rising straight up into the air and staying there requires an incredible amount of power. Flapping your arms isn't going to work. To generate enough lift, you need enormous wings, or in the case of a helicopter, enormous rotors, to convert human power to flying power. And at the same time, Bowen-Davies says you want everything to weigh as little as possible.
BOWEN-DAVIES: That's something we're constantly balancing, trying to see how light can we make it but still be strong enough that we can safely take off and carry our pilot off the ground.
COLE: They built Gamera of super-light materials, mostly toothpick-thin carbon fiber tubes and Styrofoam. And the pilots who fly this thing, they have to be super-light too.
COLE: Gamera's newest pilot, Henry Enerson, is training on a hand and foot cycling machine. In high school, he was a middle distance runner and he has that build.
HENRY ENERSON: I was like 115 during track.
COLE: Now, he's closer to 125.
ENERSON: So, kind of got fat after I graduated but, you know.
COLE: To practice generating the power he'll need to fly - about seven-tenths of a horsepower for a full minute - Enerson has to pedal along with a clicking metronome at 90 RPM. It's tough.
WEINER: Looks good, looks good, 92, 89, 86. OK.
COLE: In late August, after months of tinkering, shaving the grams off their pilots and their helicopter, Team Gamera rented a huge indoor track for a new round of flight tests. But they were weary, and expectations weren't high.
WEINER: We're probably not going to hit 10 feet. We're going to really try but it's going to be difficult.
COLE: There was talks that the project had reached its end. This would be Gamera's last round of flights.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Blocks away. You're clean. Go.
COLE: But then with Henry Enerson in the cockpit, Team Gamera did what they thought was impossible: they shattered their own record.
WEINER: We were all kind of like what is he doing? Hold on, hold on, hold on, keep flying, keep flying.
BOWEN-DAVIES: But after we got to that eight feet, that was the most amazing feeling in the world because, I mean, that's really flying. We wanted it to happen but realistically we were like maybe it'll happen one day but it's not going to be us. But now there's no reason why we can't do it.
COLE: Two days later, they reached 9.4 feet, just a few inches short of Sikorsky Prize height. And then they crashed again. This round of flight tests is over, but Team Gamera isn't talking about quitting anymore. They're already planning repairs. As engineers like to say:
BOWEN-DAVIES: It's not a problem. It's a challenge.
COLE: And the Sikorsky Prize is still there, hovering just out of reach.
COLE: Adam Cole, NPR News.
MARTIN: This human-powered helicopter really does look as cool and strange as it sounds. And you can watch it fly - and you can watch it crash - on our website, npr.org.
QUEEN: (Singing) Can't stop me, 'cause I'm having a good time, having a good time. Shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity. I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva. I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me...
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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What is HTML email?HTML email refers to the programming code behind those bold, colorful emails you see in your inbox. For obvious reasons, HTML emails are far more effective than plain text emails. But don't worry – you don't need to know a thing about coding to use our email campaign software. You just need to know how to click and drag.
What if I need help figuring it out?GoDaddy has a support team ready to help, 24/7. Got a question at 1 a.m.? No worries – we'll be here. Call 480-505-8877 anytime.
How do I know if my email marketing campaigns are working?GoDaddy Email Marketing provides great statistics to show you how many people are opening, engaging with and sharing your email. There's no mystery or guesswork. You can even compare different emails side-by-side to quickly see which emails get the best response. Once you know what appeals to your readers, you can refine your emails for even better results.
What should I look for in email campaign software?
- The ability to create clean, professional emails that look great – especially on mobile devices.
- Excellent deliverability so your emails don't end up in the spam folder. This basically comes down to your provider's relationships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the quality of their authentication tools.
- Easy-to-understand statistics so you know how your emails are being received – how many are being opened, clicked on, what clients like to read.
What do I need to use this program?
- IE 9 or later (PC)
- Firefox 3 or later
- Safari 3 or later
- Chrome
There's nothing to download or install ever.
Do I need any special skills to use it?No. Our email marketing service keeps all the clutter and technical stuff out of your way. From the drag-and-drop email composer to managing your contact lists everything is easy to figure out. Even folks with the most basic computer knowledge can make email marketing masterpieces.
I don't have a contact list. How do I get started?No problem. We'll show you how to add one of our sign up forms to your website or Facebook page to start collecting email addresses. You can also import your contacts from Outlook or Gmail straight into our email marketing software. Every email you send includes an unsubscribe link, which keeps you from landing on spam blacklists.
What if I my contact list outgrows my plan?Once you purchase a GoDaddy Email Marketing plan, simply increase the number of contacts you need from inside your GoDaddy account. It's inexpensive and there's no need to upgrade your plan.
Are there any restrictions on the type of content I can send or how I build my contact list?Yes – read our Terms of Service here.


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Paris Hilton clearly doesn't think her moment is over.
The reality TV star sat down for an interview with ABC News' Dan Harris that covered a broad range of topics. But once the subject came around to her possibly waning celebrity status -- and whether women such as Kim Kardashian have overshadowed her -- Hilton simply up and walked out.
"Want to wrap up?" asked Harris, when Hilton silently looked off-camera for a few moments following the question. She then wordlessly got out of her chair and stepped away.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Prior to the walk-out, however, Hilton actually opened up about some intriguing aspects of her life and career - including her harrowing stalker case and the notion that her "Simple Life" persona was actually not her at all, but a premeditated character.
"It's a character I developed for the 'Simple Life'," claims Hilton of the baby-talking, whiny "character." "They wanted someone who was an airhead and had the baby voice, so that's a character that I had to do and continued to do for five seasons."
Hilton's newest reality venture, "The World According to Paris" on Oxygen, has struggled in the ratings since it's debut earlier this year.
Selected Reading: MediaIte, ABC News, Hollywood Chicago


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Milk has been used throughout the ages to enhance beauty. It is well known that even Cleopatra used sweet milk for beautifying and brightening her complexion. Traditional rural cultures have also used sweet milk in beauty treatments, making it as familiar on a dressing table as in the kitchen cupboard. When mixed with our Fine Herbal Cleanser, this pristine herbal exfoliate makes a creamy, freshly fragrant lather that is easily applied, to remove tired skin cells. Gentle enough to use in daily cleansing, or apply weekly as a mask to further the effects of the milk's natural lactic acid to soften, brighten and revive the complexion.
SWEET MILK & LAVENDER BUDS, to brighten & maintain a balanced complexion
Applications & Benefits:
Our products are 100% natural, contain certified organic ingredients as indicated, are hypo-allergenic, non-irritating & dermatological tested, with a certified shelf-life of 2 years from the date of opening. No animal testing.


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It appears to me that rackspace somehow freezes cloud VMs after some idle time. This means the first page request to a php page takes much longer to respond than the subsequent requests.
This is in some cases good, in other cases not acceptable.
I am actually querying a machine with wget from a different host now to keep it "alive". But I wonder what frequency would be necessary. Does anyone know the time period after which they send a VM to "sleep"? I guess it would be some minutes.
EDIT: There is absolutely no caching involved on the php site.
It just recently moved from another vhost and there was never such latency on the first request.


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Locke Kaushal - Let There Be Hell [Unsigned Hype]
"Personal trials and tribulations sometimes cause us to overlook what's going on in the world that's really important... poverty, lack of education, crime, corruption, the list goes on. In this vid, I just wanted to use these visuals to help depict what I classify as 'hell on earth.'" - Locke Kaushal
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Web Server Software Breakdown: Malware Distribution
A great write-up on the Google Online Security Blog about the percentage of each web server platform that is distributing malware or hosting browser exploits that lead to drive-by-downloads.
We examined about 70,000 domains that over the past month have been either distributing malware or have been responsible for hosting browser exploits leading to drive-by-downloads. The breakdown by server software is depicted below. It is important to note that while many servers serve malware as a result of a server compromise (by remote exploits, password theft via keyloggers, etc.), some servers are configured to serve up exploits by their administrators.
Compared to our sample of servers across the Internet, Microsoft IIS features twice as often (49% vs. 23%) as a malware distributing server. Amongst Microsoft IIS servers, the share of IIS 6.0 and IIS 5.0 remained the same at 80% and 20% respectively. Source: Web Server Software and Malware
Now, I can already here the Linux and Mac crowd going, of course they are number one, their security sucks, etc, etc. What is interesting about this post, is the breakdown by country of origin.
See that? Almost all of the IIS web servers in China and about 75% of them in South Korea are distributing malware or hosting browser exploits. They attribute that in the article to software piracy, mostly because you can't update it if it is pirated, of course, but I am sure part of it is that it makes it easier to host the browser exploits and malware, etc. Although, in Germany, Apache is the most likely web server to get you infected, in contrast to most other areas. Always try to keep your web server software as patched as you can, and only host with companies that are proactive about doing such things, if there are any out there.
There are several tools out that can help you check your website to see if it is ditributing malware, one such tool is Spybye, and on their site they list a couple others.
During HotBots last month, I presented a paper on a systematic approach for detecting malware on the web called "The Ghost In The Browser". The paper enumerates all the different ways in which a web page can become malicious and contains some measurements on the prevalance of drive-by-downloads; an in depth analysis of 4.5 million URLs detected 450,000 that were surreptitiously installing malware. All the more reason for tools such as SpyBye. Fortunately, I am not the only one working on such tools. Christian Seifert from the New Zealand Honeypot Alliance recently announced a web interface to their Capture honey client which runs a browser against URLs specified by you. In a similar vein, Shelia is a tool that scans your mail folder and follows URLs contained in it for malware and exploits. Source: SpyBye: Finding Malware
I believe the author was one of the writers of the Ghost in the Browser paper, I first mentioned here.


text: I read that if you have bubble on your run-flat tires then you must replace the tires right away. I also read that many people have bubbles on their tires in like 200 miles. Do you just throw away those bubbled tires right away? It just seems really expensive if that's the case. What did you do?


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Formerly a software developer, I now run two money blogs full-time: The Digerati Life and The Smarter Wallet.
Ready to drastically cut your spending? Learn what it's like from these folks who challenged themselves to buy nothing for a month — or longer.
Growing your own fruits and vegetables can provide a bounty of fresh produce. Here's what to do when things get a little too bountiful.
Credit cards can dominate your life (and ruin your budget) if you're not careful. Use these 5 warning signs to make sure you stay on top of your spending habits.
Investment is that exercise of applying your money in a particular endeavor, for the pursuit of growing one's money. We cover some basic tips for investing in a business.
How many times have you seen ads for savings accounts that have touted superb interest rates? And how many times have you looked into the offer only to discover that it isn't quit
Having excellent credit will allow you to have your pick of cheaper loans with potentially higher limits. To those who need financing, we offer a few suggestions where you can see
You've worked hard, scrimped, saved and paid off all your debt. Now that you are finally debt free, what ARE you going to do?
The truth is that the economy, just like a most other things in life, simply can't be measured in straight line gains and losses. The economy is so much more than a line g
With all the environmental disasters we've been facing lately, it's easy to feel helpless about the state of our world. But rather than fall into this mood, I'd like to suggest tha
Budgeting is one of the primary keys to financial well-being. But becoming over-obsessed with your budget can cause you just as much stress as not having one at all.
Your FICO credit score has a direct bearing on what kind of interest you can expect to pay on a loan, a mortgage or any other similar product. Many employers and landlords als
our adjustable rate mortgage is getting ready to adjust and you might not be able to afford the payment. So what can you do to keep your finances above water?
Most of us have more credit than we need, and this can be dangerous for those trying to manage their debt and spending. Remove the temptation by asking for your credit lines to
Finding your dream job or life's work may not be as hard as we all make it out to be if we decide to take action towards this goal.
Here are a few things to consider to keep the costs of car ownership low.
It's interesting to see that with the advent of computerized trading and value discount brokers, a new era of people investing with the idea of getting rich overnight has exploded.
There are repercussions to filing for bankruptcy, but like with other setbacks in life, you can recover. There is always hope!
The savings rate in the United States has increased significantly over the last few months, clearly as a response to our current economic climate. But how does our historical savin
We're nearing the thick of tax time, and I'm sure the first thing on your mind (I know it's on mine) is "how much money am I getting back?" and "what am I going to use the money fo
Not all parents are intending to save for their children's education. There may be various reasons why this is the case and it's something I'd like to explore a little, to determi


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Apparently, there was a reason why Katy Perry was chosen to reveal the 2011 MTV Video Music Award nominees. People must like hearing her say her own name. A lot.
Perry served as MC for the big reveal and ended up with a whopping nine nominations, including Video of the Year for "Firework."
She also landed a nomination for best pop video for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" - the viral-y video where Perry plays a hopeless nimrod with an abundance of orthodontia (and features a Rebecca Black cameo!)
U.S. & World
Both Adele and Kanye West found themselves in Perry's wake, with each getting seven nominations. The British diva will face off against Perry for Best Video for "Rolling in the Deep." The Beastie Boys are officially back, securing a nomination for "Make Some Noise," while Bruno Mars was honored for "Grenade," and Odd Future rapper Tyler the Creator was recognized for "Goblin."
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was that both Lady Gaga and Britney received only one major nomination apiece, Britney for "Till The World Ends" and Gaga for "Born This Way" (though they both were selected for technical categories, like choreography).
Others were shocked not to see Kanye West's "Runaway," the metaphor-packed visual feast from his "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," though "All Of The Lights" scored multiple nominations.
Cast your vote for favorite videos here, and tune into MTV Aug. 28 for the live Video Music Awards.
Selected Reading: MTV, AP, Just Jared, MTV Newsroom


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New Hampshire Events, Coupons, Reviews!
Subscribe to KidsScoop! The monthly family event and savings newsletter.
We went to the Ice Castle on the most amazing day! The snow was falling lightly the entire time we were there. As if the Ice Castle wasn't magical enough on its own, the snow just pushed it over the top.
Catching snowflakes!
Checking out the tiny Fairy Elsa Castle (located at the very back of the Ice Castle)
Even the line to the ice slide was magical, a little tunnel and a twisty path to the tippy top!
This is at the top looking down.
Every "big" family event I try to take a Polaroid. There is just something about holding a photo.
And down they go. We went on the slide at least 2 dozen times.
We stayed until the lights came on.
Catching more snow flakes.
This was the smaller slide. It's also wider so all the kids could go at once.
The ticket stand is right out front, be sure to have your tickets uploaded and ready to scan. I had my tickets text to my phone so I had to pull up each text, click the link and wait for it to load. It would have been faster if I had just done a screen shot of each before I got to the window.
Even the baby loved the slide.
Be sure to stop and buy some hot cocoa for $3 and also sugar cookies inside the castle.
Be sure to grab a discount on our Shop page! Midway Ice Castles are only open two more weeks! Run!


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Everything about this statement and its delivery, from the words chosen with care to the formal setting and her somber outfit, offer a textbook example of how a speaker should deliver such a serious message. Yet it represents not only a swift and unequivocal diplomatic response, but a human one. Here, Clinton is not only the top diplomat representing the United States, but the leader of an organization that's a tight-knit network--and the person who not only asked Ambassador Chris Stevens, one of those killed, to serve as the U.S. envoy to the Libyan opposition, but who swore him into that role. As a result, the statement serves its diplomatic task while reflecting the different roles of the speaker. Here's what you can learn from this famous speech:
- Humanize the people behind formal setting: "In the lobby of this building, the State Department, the names of those who have fallen in the line of duty are inscribed in marble. Our hearts break over each one. And now, because of this tragedy, we have new heroes to honor and more friends to mourn." By reminding the viewers that the place from which she spoke is a workplace for the U.S. diplomatic corps and not just a formal setting for her statement, Clinton humanized the largely invisible team of diplomats and reminded us that they were mourning coworkers. These lines also serve the task of any memorial remarks, to comfort the living while remembering the dead.
- Ask the questions your audience is thinking: "Today, many Americans are asking – indeed, I asked myself – how could this happen?" Clinton said. "How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be." The smart speaker doesn't need to answer all the questions on the minds of audience members, but acknowledging them and restating them creates recognition and connection.
- Fill the empty words with details that will stick with the audience: It's especially easy in formal pronouncements of this type to use words that may be heavy with diplomatic meaning, but sound like empty platitudes to the audience. In this case, just reassuring the listener that Libyans helped the U.S. diplomats might not have been so convincing, given the results. So Clinton shared a few details to make that more real: "And when the attack came yesterday, Libyans stood and fought to defend our post. Some were wounded. Libyans carried Chris' body to the hospital, and they helped rescue and lead other Americans to safety."


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Desktop Alert, Inc. Releases Native BlackBerry Mass Notification Mobile Application
|Silent Panic Alarm Subscription for NJ Alyssa's Law Compliance Now Listed at Amazon.comChatham Borough, NJ, August 27, 2019 –(PR.com)– Desktop Alert, Inc., the patented system owner of less than one-minute network-centric emergency mass notification systems (EMNS) to military, government, healthcare…
Read More AUGUST 27, 2019
|Desktop Alert Products Added to Defense Information Network (DoDIN) Approved Products List (APL)Chatham Borough, NJ, August 22, 2019 –(PR.com)– Today Desktop Alert Inc. announced The Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) Approved Products List (APL) approval of the Desktop Alert, Inc.
Read More AUGUST 22, 2019
|Bill proposes panic buttons in all N.J. public schoolsA plan to install a panic alarm in all New Jersey public schools is now in the hands of Governor Phil Murphy. The state senate unanimously approved a bill Thursday called "Alyssa's Law," named after one of the victims of the Florida high school
Read More FEBRUARY 01, 2019
|16 Year Old Harvard Grad Braxton Moral Joins Metis Secure Student Safety CommitteeI am really excited to join this company as it represents an approach to an issue that is incredibly important today. I especially appreciate the nonpartisan nature of the company and the approach it takes to solving the issue!" – Braxton Moral
Read More JANUARY 09, 2019
|Panic Buttons, Silent Alarms Could Come To All NJ SchoolsPanic Buttons, Silent Alarms Could Come To All NJ Schools December 18, 2018 Posted by: Site Admin Category: Uncategorized No Comments TRENTON — A law that would put panic buttons and emergency lights in all New Jersey schools Monday cleared the state Assembly
Read More Dec 18, 2018
|Desktop Alert Inc. Wins Two 'ASTORS' Platinum Awards at ISC EAST Homeland Security ConferenceBest Emergency Response Program for Federal/State or Local' by Desktop Alert and 'Best Emergency Help Station/Technology' by Metis Secure Solutions
Read More NOVEMBER 26, 2018
|NJBIZ Nominates Desktop Alert Inc. as a 2018 Business of the Year FinalistDesktop Alert Inc. has been named as a 2018 NJBIZ Business of the Year finalist in the 1-50 employees category
Read MoreOctober 03, 2018
|Desktop Alert Inc. Invests in Blockchain as New Business Cases EmergeDesktop Alert Inc. to provide Mass Notification Products and Services to Healthcare organizations' and U.S. municipalities via Blockchain technology
Read MoreOctober 02, 2018
|Desktop Alert Network Military Alert System (NAS) Outperforms Blackberry AtHoc Alert System on Department of Defense Networks by Several MinutesDesktop Alert Inc. Network Military Alert System (NAS) Significantly Outperforms Blackberry AtHoc Alert System
Read MoreAugust 31, 2018
|Desktop Alert to Showcase New In-Building and Outdoor School Help Stations at Campus Safety East
The Campus Safety Conferences are 2-day intense conference and training for administrators and public safety
Read MoreJuly 09, 2018
|Metis Secure Solutions Launches SchoolNotificationBeacons.com
Metis Secure Solutions Launches SchoolNotificationBeacons.com
Read MoreApril 02, 2018
|Desktop Alert Inc. Receives DISA Accreditation with CAP 1.2 Compliance
Today Desktop Alert Inc. announced it has been re-certified by the United States Government DISA Agency.. ..
Read MoreFebruary 16, 2018
|Desktop Alert Inc. Presents Live Webinar Promoting Proven Best Safety Practices for Healthcare Organizations
Industry experts will present insights, lessons learned and best practices that highlight ..
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2018
|Desktop Alert Named Best Best Mass Notification System by GSN 2017 Homeland Security Awards
We are honored to have been chosen as Best Mass Notification System, Howard Ryan, Founder Desktop Alert Inc..
Read MoreJanuary 09, 2018
|Desktop Alert Inc. Donates Award Winning PC Popup Alerting Platform to All U.S. Learning Institutions
Desktop Alert Inc. today announced the company is donating its award winning PC Popup notification..
Read MoreDecember 19, 2017
|Desktop Alert Inc. Listed #4 in Gold Standard 'Markets & Markets' Global Forecast Report As Emerging Mass Notification LeaderDesktop Alert Inc. Touted in New Markets & Markets Global Mass Notification Report ..
Read MoreNovember 21, 2017
|Desktop Alert Subsidiary Metis Secure Solutions Wins International Security Conference (ISC) East Attendees' Choice AwardThe International Security Conference & Exposition – also known as ISC East – is the premier security..
Read MoreNovember 17, 2017
|Desktop Alert, 2017 NYC Republican Comptroller Candidate and Former NY Jet Michel Faulkner, Iconic NY Ranger Alumni Attend NYC Security Conference at Jacob Javits CenterToday Desktop Alert Inc. the 2017 Best Mass Notification System by GSN 2017 Airport, Seaport, Border….
Read MoreOctober 11, 2017
|Desktop Alert Inc. Lauds Ban of Kaspersky software in Federal Agencies.Desktop Alert, the nation's sole American Founded Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA ) Certified IP-Based Mass Notification vendor supports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies ….
Read MoreSeptember 22, 2017
|Desktop Alert Named Best Mass Notification System by GSN 2017 Airport, Seaport, Border Security Awards.Today Desktop Alert Inc. the 2016 Government Security News 1st Place Winner for America's Homeland….
Read MoreAugust 14, 2017
|Metis Secure Solutions has been selected as winner in the Government Security News 2017
Metis Secure Solutions has been selected as winner in the Government Security News 2017 Airport, Seaport, Border Security Awards Communications Category for Best Emergency Beacon System.
Read MoreJuly 17, 2017
|Metis Secure Emergency Alert Beacon Industry Case Studies Published
Metis Secure two-way hands free voice emergency alerting beacons are designed to serve campuses, industry, military bases and public areas proliferating for 'safer spaces' requirements worldwide
Read MoreJune 29, 2017
|Desktop Alert Attains JITC Waiver From NETCOM for U.S. Army Certificate of Networthiness (CoN)
Today Desktop Alert Inc. the 2016 Government Security News 1st Place Winner for America's Homeland Security Airport, Seaport and Border Security mass..
Read MoreMarch 28, 2017
|Award-Winning Mass Notification Provider Desktop Alert Inc. Acquires Metis Secure Solutions
Desktop Alert Inc. the 2016 Government Security News 1st Place Winner for America's Homeland Security Airport, Seaport and Border Security mass notification requirements announced that the company has acquired Metis Secure Solutions.
Read MoreNovember 14, 2016
|U.S. Army Awards Desktop Alert With Certificate of Networthiness and Authority to Operate
Continues Desktop Alert's Presence as a leading US Army Enterprise Mass Warning Notification System (MWNS). The newly issued certification (CoN) expires in 2019
Read MoreOctober 05, 2016
|Desktop Alert Inc. Meets and Exceeds New USAF Instruction for 2 Minute Alerting Mandate
When lives are at stake seconds, not minutes, count. Desktop Alert Mass Notification System adherent to the new Air Force Guidance Memorandum AFI 10-206 8.3 Notification Requirements
Read MoreAugust 18, 2016
|Desktop Alert Inc. Meets and Exceeds New 2016 USAF Department of Defense
Desktop Alert Inc. Meets and Exceeds New July 2016 Air Force Guidance Memorandum to AFI 10-206 for Mass Warning and Alert Notification. Affirms 'Less Than One Minute' alerting platform claim with DoD client reports.
Read MoreJuly 27, 2016
|Northern Command / NORAD, West Point Military Academy and the National Guard Successfully
Desktop Alert performs flawlessly in a recent U.S. Department of Defense bi-directional cross-agency alerting system test utilizing DTA Connect™ frictionless technology.
Read MoreJune 28, 2016


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What exactly is going on in this bizarre tableau? Has Mumm-Ra joined al Qaeda? Has Snarf secretly been crashing in the Lincoln Bedroom? Is Obama appointing an ambassador to Thundera? You write the script, io9ers!
Look at the above picture. It's the leader of the world brandishing Lion-O's Sword of Omens! Why the hell is this happening? It's your mission to come up with a suitable quip or caption! There's no material prize for the best quote, but we will add the winner to this post on the morning of Tuesday, 3/30/10. I guess you could include a link to this in your curriculum vitae or something, but as it stands, the prize is pure bragging rights and the esteem of your fellow io9ers.
(And yes, I do realized this is 'shopped, but it's a cheeky remix of NYMag's "A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things."]
[Bearsharktopus-Man via Super Punch]
After much careful deliberation, here are the Top 5 captions. To everyone who contributed, you're all champions in our eyes. Except for those contestants who emailed us those horrific Rule 34-style photos. You ain't champions. No way.
5.) Dresan: "When interrupted for comment on how he plans defeat Republican forces come November 2010, Obama simply held up the Sword of Omens and with a puzzled look said: 'Bitch, please.'
The press conference fell silent afterward, and no one never interrupted him ever again."
4.) Fauxfilms: "You have to plunge it into Glenn Beck's heart before he talks. He cannot say a word or else it is too late."
3.) Postretro: "I'm going to look so bad ass at Bohemian Grove this weekend."
2.) Sarastro42005: "Mr. President, we're pleased to announce that this new alloy guarantees a permanent buff to manliness. Also, laboratory testing suggests it may even be capable of slaying a Palin."
1.) Demonbird: "So, how many cat people did you find at Roswell again?"
Congratulations to Demonbird and the rest of our winners! Salute them, digitally pat them on the trapezius, sing their praises from high very altitudes, and tell your great-grandchildren about what you witnessed this day. Good hustle, internet!


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Music Home / Entertainment Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
He's been the lead singer of The Fixx since 1980 and seen them through hit singles like "Red Skies," "Secret Separation," and "One Thing Leads to Another," but once in awhile, Cy Curnin likes to stretch his legs and step into a solo state of mind. Curnin's recently released his second solo album, The Returning Sun, and Bullz-Eye had an opportunity to discuss the creation of the record, the status of The Fixx (as well as a few of their stellar but underrated albums from the '90s and '00s), the strangeness of having one's band be defined by the decade in which they originated, and the state of the music industry as a whole.
Bullz-Eye: Hello?
Cy Curnin: Hi, Will?
BE: Yes!
CC: It's Cy.
BE: Hey how are you?
CC: Good. How are you?
BE: Not bad. Good morning.
CC: Good. Is there a good line? No echo…?
BE: Not that I'm hearing, anyway.
CC: Good, good, good. Sometimes when I call out on this line, it starts to get an echo.
BE: Nope. Sounds good this time.
CC: Good, that's good. And then the wife will pay the bill.
BE: Well, there you go. So I understand from both your publicist and your podcast that you've just come down from the mountain…and that that's not just a figure of speech.
CC: Exactly. Even Mohammad has to go to the mountain. It wasn't top of my list last year, but it's top of my list of places to go back to.
BE: And which mountain was it? That part I didn't get.
CC: Everest.
BE: Oh, wow! Excellent!
CC: I got…I can hardly say "roped into it," but I got invited along through the Love Hope Strength Foundation, which is a leukemia awareness foundation for early treatment. Mike Peters, from The Alarm, is a two-time leukemia survivor, and he formed this charity with James Chippendale, who's a rock and roll concert insurer, and he was also a survivor. And when Mike was going on tour when he'd been told he had cancer a second time, he was looking for some doctors in America that could help him out, and they both realized they had a great database. A lot of the problems out in the world are, you know, early detection, early treatment, blah blah blah. And so they wanted to sing out this message from the highest points. Started off with the Empire State building, then Snowden, because Mike Peters is from Wales, and then somebody came up with the bright idea of going to Everest. There was a party of 38 trekkers…cancer survivors, some investors that had donated a lot of money, and six or seven musicians. I was one of them and Jamie from (The Fixx), also. We went up there and we broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest rock concert ever, at 19,000 feet. It was amazing, because one thing you do when you go up there is you…obviously, you're struggling a little bit with altitude and stuff like that, but you lose your identity, in a good sense. You lose all the crap and baggage of who you are back there, and it's just you and the mountain. And I really got the sort of proverb about Mohammad going to the mountain. It clears you out of so much stuff. And on top of that, really being inspired by all these people that have just been off chemo for six months, and they're marching along right next to you. By the time I came down, I was, like, "I'm never going to complain about anything again," you know? So that was that. And I got back on Halloween, which was my mom's birthday, and that's the day I released my solo record, which is called The Returning Sun, which has a few useful clichés in there.
BE: (Laughs) So why another solo album? Why not another Fixx album?
CC: Well, we're just getting ready to do a Fixx record as well. There are periods where I write some songs that I just feel aren't quite Fixx-y, or they were written so much on my own that I feel they are more of a solo effort than a band effort. These days, when we write with the band, we're all together, and we conceive stuff together, because it's more about collaboration than anything. So I was in New York after the second divorce, going through the sad dad thing, blah blah blah, and all these emotions were coming out. And I recorded it, and it sat there for awhile, and then I suddenly realized, after the record industry seemed to be collapsing everywhere, that the internet is a great marketplace; I had half of a name out there, people should know me a little bit, I felt, "Well, I'll just build my own website and put the record out that way." And using the traditional form of P.R. and having Carol (Kaye), the publicist, and just putting the word out that way, I'm getting a lot of visits to my site. With MySpace and CD Baby, it's much more personal; I'm in control more. You sell less, but you make more. It's kind of just the way the world is these days, and I'm getting some good feedback on the record, so I thought, "Well, why not?" You know, here we go! And it just works. It bolts on really nicely to what I'm doing with the band. And I know Jamie's getting ready to put his solo record album out as well. I think we've been together for so long…it's like a marriage, where you're allowed to sleep around and no one really cares. So that's what we're kind of up to, and I think we…collectively, we gain from the experience of being a part of it. It brings a different energy when we're back together, and it defines in my head what is a Fixx song and what is a Cy Curnin song.
BE: Well, now, having Jamie's guitar on your record adds some instant familiarity of it, but did you ever consider having another collaborator, just to kind of draw more of a line between you and the Fixx?
CC: Well, I did, you know. Actually, I really did. But Jamie was around in New York at the time, and he just…he came to the studio to visit, see what I was up to, and he said, "I'd like to play on that." And I did have other people try and play stuff on it. Maybe it's because I'm so used to what he does, or we're just so inextricably linked through our own history that I couldn't wrap my ears around anyone else. Yeah, there are a couple of tracks where it is very definable…my voice, his guitar.
BE: Yeah, the opening track in particular, "We Might Find It."
CC: Yeah, true. But I started the album with that one to make people think, "Ah, there he is, that's the Fixx boy," and then…
BE: I wondered if that might be the reason why.
CC: Yeah, I figured I'll just get it on, put it on the first track, and then I'll take the journey off on the side rides from there. And, you know, Jamie's, like, my best friend as well, so we play on each other's stuff and do things together all the time; we went up the mountain together. It just feels…the ying and the yang; we're like each other's ying or yang…depending on who's the ying that day.
BE: I saw on "Remember Me When I'm Gone" you teamed with Jeannette Obstoj again for the lyrics.
CC: Yeah, that actually was the song that kicked off the whole album. I was walking past my fax machine in the days when faxes were still…when I still had one a couple of years ago…and all of a sudden, this fax comes out: "Urgent: remember me when I'm gone." I was, like, "Oh, my God, that's like a suicide note." And I knew that Jeannette's a bit of a drama queen when she wants to be. I read the lyric and it had a sense of urgency, and I just picked up my guitar, and within five minutes, once I found her lyrical rhythm, I just had knocked it into some kind of shape. And I went, "Wow, that's one of the best songs I've written in a long time." I didn't really ask too much of it; it just came through me. One of the things when I'm singing her lyrics, I have nothing to worry about whether this line's any good or whether this word's right, because she's very anal about each word that she picks, and if you try and change one word here and there, she has a fit. So for me, it's just all about the singing, the performance, and the music, which is sort of a day off for me, because I am normally more known as a lyricist as well. So I love writing songs to other people's lyrics occasionally.
BE: When was the last time you collaborated with her?
CC: On that song.
BE: No, I meant, prior to that, when was the last time?
CC: Prior to that…well, she had given me a book of sort of collective poems, and we did a couple of things together, but the last song that was really out there was "Secret Separation." And "Woman on a Train." Those were the last two that had really made it to the public forum.
BE: And you've got production on the album with Doug Beck.
CC: Yeah, Doug Beck was introduced to me through a guy who was building my studio in Manhattan, and he was a remixer working with a guy called DJ Boris, and they were known for their industrial mixes that they were doing at the time. And he was, like, "Can you get Cy to send me the dates for 'One Thing Leads to Another'? I would love to have a crack at a remix." So he did that, came back, and Jellybean Recordings released it. I got to know Doug a little bit, and we said, "Well, why don't we just have a go at writing something new? And the first thing we did together was "The Future's Not What It Used To Be." We put that together, and that was soup to nuts in four hours, like in the old songwriting days, and we had such a laugh that it continued into two tracks, three tracks, and before you know it, we were just going, "Right, this is the album, let's get to the end of the road." Because he was busy with his remixing, too, I sort of had to wait until he had some down time, and then I was on the road with The Fixx for a bit, so he had to wait until I had some down time. So there was a bit of pits and stops. But we eventually got to the end and, you know, we felt like there was a good sense of accomplishment. We're actually working on a new one right now. We've already started one new song for another record for whenever. Keep it going, you know.
BE: From the credits, it looks like the one song that kind of stands out is "The World Will Always Turn." Was that from a different session?
CC: Yeah, that was a different session, and a different friend, actually. That was with a guy called Clark Stiles, who is another friend of mine: a fantastic programmer, another remixer, but West coast. Different sensibilities. When I'm in L.A., I'm in sort of a different vibe, I suppose – a West coast head – and I had just come off of a long tour, and I just went to visit Clark, and we knocked that one off in a couple of days. It had a real kind of jumpy, funky lyrical thing going on in the background, vocals coming in, sort of lessons that I had learned from Rupert Hine back in the day when we were doing "One Thing Leads to Another," the way those backing vocals work there. So I was having fun with that, and Clark did a real stellar job on it, so I thought…I was one song short, so I decided to put that one on this record, too. I kind of like that track, too. That's my favorite one.
BE: Yeah, I like it as well.
CC: It's the one I mention when people say, "Which one are you working first?" If there was to be such thing as a single, I think that would be the one.
BE: In another world, where there are still proper singles.
CC: Yeah, exactly. People can just go and cherry pick what they want. It's just getting it out there; that's the trick. Using television. Everyone wants a song in "Grey's Anatomy" or whatever it is, in a movie, and la,la,la,la,la. And we can license the old Fixx tracks to T.V. commercials until the cows come home – I mean, it's a great income – but as soon as you give people something new, they're, like, "But that's new." And I go, "Yeah…?" And they go, "Well, they might not know who it is." And I go, "Oh, so that doesn't serve a purpose for you, then." And they think, "Well, no, it doesn't." And that's fine. That's just a machinery to get something new from somebody who is known that kind of went haywire for a bit. I'm not actually complaining. For me, it's quite a healthy thing. Young kids growing up today have a different way of promoting themselves. They start locally – they always did in America, start locally – and get a ground swell going, and now they've got their own sites and they're able to sort of follow the ripples of their music a little bit more closely. They do shows for nothing, sell CDs for very little or even give CDs for nothing, and do shows for a price. It's however you want to make your living; you can do it any way you like.
BE: And you, you're doing your distribution through CD Baby.
CC: That's right. For now, I'm doing it through CD Baby; I'm up on iTunes now as well. I've got the music and all the sort of download people are coming on board, and then for the rest of the world, I'm off to meet and…this January, I'll try and do a few distribution deals with individual countries. What happens there is if you pick up a little distribution deal, say, with Denmark, for example, you'll get a record company who will commit to buying a couple thousand, two thousand CDs, maybe five thousand, but then they have to go out and promote it to some extent, so you get press. Free press. Once you get the free press, then you can put a tour on the back of it, so you go off and wind your way around the world. And so that so that's kind of my next step: just do these little one-off deals and see where it leads me. But just using my site, I've been having orders from Chile, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland…I was quite amazed. I was like, "Wow, there's somebody in Chile who's heard of my solo album, and they want an autographed copy?" It's great. It's something you didn't really think of in the old days; you were just, like, "How many have we sold for this week's count, Karen? Where am I going?" I mean, it was just…there was a separation between the creative side and the business side. In fact, we didn't really pay much attention to the business side, in a way, which is maybe a good or a bad thing. But now I feel like a baker…putting my little dough balls in the oven, and then pulling them out and letting the smell of the cooking bring the people in.
BE: Well, I've been following The Fixx since…well, since their commercial heyday. But, for instance, I've praised Elemental to anyone who will sit still long enough to listen to me.
CC: Yeah, that's a great record, isn't it? I think that's one of the best Fixx records, too. After the hiatus that we took off, we all came back with this twist of emotions and nailed quite a few tracks on that, "Fatal Shore" in particular.
BE: In fact, I saw you guys when you were touring behind it, and you pulled one of the ballsiest moves I've ever seen, one I still tell people about: you played basically the entire new album before you ever played any of the old hits.
CC: Yeah.
BE: I thought that was awesome, because, that way, people have to hear it, and you know they're going to sit still, because they want to hear the old hits, too.
CC: Yeah, exactly. I mean, some people shoot you down. The promoters, they want to hire you on the fact you are going to play the hits, you are going to play the hits, and you go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we'll do them at the end, sort of like as a medley." And, yeah, you do have to present what you sell, and lots of people will go off and say, "Oh, they didn't play any of their old stuff." You've just got to be ballsy these days; otherwise, you don't get anywhere.
BE: I also enjoyed the Want that Life album as well.
CC: Oh good. Another sort of element, I guess it's…as aging or maturing as musicians, you celebrate…when you're younger, you hide your limitations, but as you get older, you tend to celebrate them more. And it brings out different vulnerabilities…or sensibilities, I should say…in music, and I think there were some pretty winds and turns, a good, eclectic Fixx album. Most…a good Fixx is quite eclectic, because we'll wake up one morning and be very sort of bright and "hey, ho" and in an upbeat mood, and the next evening we'll be very dark and, you know, like "No Hollywood Ending," that song, deep and dark. That's what I like about being in this band: we're all bipolar, but not all at the same time, so it's in spikes.
BE: How have the latter Fixx albums done for you? Do you sell them at shows, so the people who are hearing the songs for the first time get to…?
CC: Yeah, exactly. We do sell them at shows. The problem we had with Elemental and 1011 Woodlands – which is another record we did with CMC – is that CMC then got bought out by Sanctuary, and then when we were trying to buy back the catalog because CMC was done going down the crapper, they actually came in, and the only way they could keep their value up was to just say, "No, it's worth a lot more." But I said, "It's only worth a lot more to you if you're selling it. If you're not going to sell it, you're just blackmailing us into making it worth a lot more to us. Which, of course, it is, but it's not worth that much in terms of…you might as well keep selling it until something else happens, and we'll wait another year, where we can go back, and the price will drop 50%, and we can go in there and buy the tapes back." But, meanwhile, we're busy getting ready to do another record, so upwards and onwards, you know. Stuff is out there, and you can get it online, or get it in the stores, if you're lucky. Eventually, we would like to just clean house and sweep all these things back into our camp. Actually, we're talking to someone in L.A. who cleverly mentions the word "audit" around record companies and their mood all of a sudden changes. "Oh, yes, what can we do for you?" Collectively, there are a lot of bands in the same boat that are all, like, scratching their heads, wondering where this went and that went, and if we all come up together and do a sort of communal audit, you can really shoot…y'know, catch them like David and Goliath. And the record companies think that if they can get away with it nine times out of ten that it's worth doing, but if one little guy starts scratching away at the surface…for instance, this last year, we found over $700,000 sitting in different accounts that should have been paid over to various other accounts that were keeping us in the red. So at least we got back to zero. It was good: we didn't actually get any money, but we're back to zero.
BE: It's a start.
CC: But I don't want to be negative. I'm in a good space right now; the band is playing better than ever. Because of the dollar, it's a bit hard to get over there and tour as much as we'd like to at the moment, so we're just sort of limiting ourselves to doing the summer packages. Like, last summer, we were out with The Alarm and The Psychedelic Furs, and that did really well for the promoters; we were filling the sheds. We had to cancel some of it because John, the guitarist, had a baby, or his wife had a baby, so we had to cut the tour short. But this year, we are going to go back out and do the rest, and go in other areas that we didn't reach, and hope that the dollar improves to make it be easier for us to travel over there.
BE: I think the last time I saw you guys, you were paired with Rick Springfield.
CC: Ah, wow. That was a one-off. We had one of these agents that…like, those dates tend to play well, but they're not…people can scratch their heads and go, "Why is that? Why are The Fixx playing with Rick Springfield?" But he happens to like the band, and he likes us being with him because I guess it makes him look a bit tougher, and we like it because we pick up girly fans. Now and then, they go, "Well, we had no idea; we just thought you were great musicians, but you guys are quite cute."
BE: Well, with the Rick Springfield audience, I think that as long as you shake your butt, you're okay.
CC: Yeah, yeah, there you go. And you have to flip your fingers through your hair a bit. But he does it so much better than I do.
BE: Well that's why you opened for him that night, I think. He was the one in his element.
CC: Where was that?
BE: It was in Portsmouth, Virginia.
CC: Oh yeah, under the tent there. That's a great gig.
BE: It is, yeah. It's a really nice venue right there on the water.
CC: Yeah, I really like that gig. We dip into Vegas quite a lot, because our age group is there now. You go on early, because the casinos want the fans to come in and lose money afterwards, so they don't want you on too late. So you go on early, they pay you tons of money, and you get a great show; they have great equipment. It's a win/win situation for bands at our level now, and thank god for Vegas, you know. It keeps us working.
BE: Not to get negative, but does the so-called "80's circuit" ever get frustrating for you, or do you feel like the people who listen to you anyway are…
CC: Yeah, but it's kind of done now. It's just starting to wind down. And, yeah, when we go out with The Alarm and some people say, "Well, that's kind of an 80's package," but we're trying to take it into another realm. What I think is strange is that…okay, there's blues music, there's heavy metal music, there's R&B music, there's this music and that music, all different kinds of music from different periods that were given their own names. 80's music happened to be labeled with the time it came out, and I don't know what that was from. Maybe just the age that we lived in. How wonderful the 80's were. We were so self-aware, being in the modern age, and something to do with George Orwell's 1984 or something, being a very futuristic thing, but by the time it came along, it was just like any other period in history. But the label stuck. Then there was "alternative"…but alternative to what? It's like the theory of relativity; you have to have two things to compare to be relative. It's a duff slogan for music from that period, but it was a very original music period. But the 80's…going around, people just expecting the hits, coming along and reminiscing and being nostalgic…I don't mind that as long as people accept where they are today and are prepared to take…as you say when we played Elemental, this is where we are now; that's where we were then. As you're watching the show, can you remember back to where you were? Look at you now; has your life grown; how do you think about this? It's just as much about the audience as it is for us, and it's a state of mind. To me, it's like a play; you use different songs to get different elements out to bring the show to a conclusion, to the same heights…like the story of everyman, if you like, in any moment. And we use different songs in different positions, but it has peaks and valleys, and the way I convince myself, you know, here we go, out playing as if we were doing a Shakespeare play, you know, and there you are in Act Three. One thing leads to another, and it's Act Three, so you just have to keep doing it and dig deep and look for the emotion and the reason why you wrote it and the relevance of it today and there always is. Luckily, enough Fixx music had enough enigma to it that it fits in any time period; you can always reapply it to events today.
BE: For our site, we're getting ready to put together a piece, the title of which will be "They Escaped from the 80's." But the whole premise is going to be that so many of these bands and artists that, okay, yeah, their heyday, commercially speaking, may have been in the 80's, but they've done so much great work since then. And I'm immediately behind Elemental as an inclusion for that.
CC: Well, then, that's great. We'll very much appreciate that; we're very proud of that as a band. I think there were some good wines that went in the bottle in the 80's that are really magnificent for drinking today, and there are some that went in the bottle that are crap. It's just keeping your eye on it…if you're an audio follower, if you love music, anyway, you'll know. The mass market, maybe they've moved on, but I have a feeling, though, that…what I've noticed in especially the last three years…and again I talk about our generation, I talk about people that were in college…but let's say, when The Fixx's Reach the Beach came out. Now, they're sitting in front of their computers as a leisure, and they're scanning all over the place, downloading this, downloading that, and they go to what they knew then, and it's less embarrassing for them than if they had to go to a record store and file through this, that, and the other. So that's really helped us. And I've really noticed a blip of connection and My Space, you know, if you do a …this is with many thousands of people that we've got on The Fixx MySpace site, the age group is right there, and then we pick up their kids. A lot of them have got kids who have been brainwashed; sitting in the back seat, listening to Fixx albums…and lo and behold, a few of them have gone, "Your music is so much better than the crap they're selling us today, and we love what you're doing." So that's inspiring.
BE: Well, I've got a two year old, so I'm trying to steer her down the right path already.
CC: There you go, and God bless you for it. We have some things…we have grandparents, parents and children coming to the show. You know, from the Oakland Bowl, playing to eight thousand people, opening up for The Police, to doing two thousand to see the show in Vegas; it's peaks and valleys, but it's still about the music for us, and it's still pulling the same strings in us that it did then. In fact, I'm more aware of the luck that I have to be able to express myself through music, because when I see some of my friends who don't have an ability to express what's going on inside of them, they seem to have aged or gotten stuck in a moment, to quote Bono, that they can't get out of. And for music…for us, as Shakespeare said, "If music is the food of love, then play on." And it keeps you young. And it's nice to see people coming out for whatever reason, getting away from their cocoon and their fears, where they think bin Laden is going to crawl through the window and bomb them personally; it's just nice to get people out of the house. These are interesting times that we live in.
BE: Last question, and then I'll wrap up. What's your favorite underrated album by The Fixx that you feel didn't get the love that is should have?
CC: Well, we already mentioned it twice. (Laughs) Elemental is definitely my favorite album, because it's got some songs on there – "Happy Landing," "Two Different Views," "Fatal Shore" – that we still play in a Fixx set today, and those songs have gone on to become firm favorites for those hardcore fans. We just missed the boat in terms of…the record company thought they were signing something that was going to be one way, and they just had a bunch of heavy metal radio promotion guys promoting it to heavy metal radio, and I said, "Well, there's your problem right there!" And they wondered why they weren't getting a thousand ads a minute, and I said, "Because you've got to find someone who knows where it's got to go!" And the late 90's, it was a bit lost. People had thrown the baby out with the bathwater at the stroke of midnight on 1990; everything 80's was off unless you were on a higher plateau…Prince, Madonna, U2. Everything else went out, and grunge came in, and apart from Pearl Jam and Nirvana, no one else really delivered long enough, so it was just like bad wannabes bouncing around on the radio for awhile, and it just really sucked and it lost its way. And then people were talking about Napster, and that's when the record business really went to sleep…and died in its sleep, I think. But music lovers go on; we carry the torch, you know.
BE: What were your thoughts of Ink? Do you have fond memories of that album?
CC: There were some really good songs on there; a very patchy record. Strange period for us; we changed management, swapped labels mid-album. It was one of those records where…we were suddenly managed by this guy called Allen Kovac for the end of it, who was, like, "I'm going to make this album huge!" He was being goaded by MCA; he was kind of running MCA from the background, and he said, "You need to do this; you need to write with this guy." And he sat me down with Scott Cutler, who is a good songwriter, and we wrote "How Much is Enough?" together and "No One Has to Cry." Which are good songs, and we played them, but at the time, I just felt that something had seeped in from the outside into the dome, the biosphere that we were as The Fixx, where we were unique to ourselves only. And so that album had a little bit of that. But with hindsight, again, very eclectic. There are some favorite songs on there for some of the fans, and a lot of the fans, it's their favorite album, too. It's just got a lot of different elements on there. There's a little track on there called "Make No Plans"; it's a completely lulu track, but I love it. When we play it live, we turn into this kind of really… it's a real turner.
BE: I was working at a record store when the album came out, so it was regularly in our in-store play. So I fell in love with that more than maybe a lot of people would have, just because it was on all the time.
CC: Yeah, yeah, I mean it was a good record, but for me, it was just…I guess it was the period; we were just bouncing around left, right, and center, and I have to say that the end of the 80's…the writing was on the wall; you couldn't get things on the radio as quickly as you wanted, and things were changing. But that's the constant state, change, isn't it?
BE: True. To say the least. Well, it's been a pleasure speaking with you.
CC: Likewise, too, Will. Anyone who loves and who champions Elemental is a star in my book.
BE: Well, I appreciate that. Well, I've got your website, obviously, since I got the podcast, so as soon as this interview gets up, I'll send you the link…and as soon as we get this piece together about the bands who escaped from the 80's rolling, I'll definitely send you the link for that, too.
CC: Oh, fantastic, man. I'm looking forward to it. Take care!
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Saint Benoît
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Holiday rental | The owner offers the rental from 4 nights. The Saint-Alexandre Gîtes de France-labelled self-catering cottage is fully equipped, independent and capable of accommodating 5 people. It is Situated in an enclosed garden in the heart of a Creole or... Read more
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Holiday rental | Location : Sainte Rose / Est Holiday Rental Rural Gîte full of charm and character. Located in Sainte-Rose on a farming estate, Cana Suc has an independent Gite which is part of the Gîtes de France network. The Gite has 2 rooms: a double ... Read more
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In yesterday's New York Times, Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft reported on Apple's tighter control of the App store. TechCrunch then added that Apple's moves may "foreshadow war with Amazon Kindle."
As Jason Kincaid writes: " instead of beating Amazon on price or features, it looks like Apple might just cut them off. Or force them to use in-app payments, which give Apple a 30% cut and would kill Amazon's margins. Amazon has avoided using Apple's in-app payments system by kicking users to a browser to complete their transaction, but according to the NYT report . . . it sounds like this will be banned."
Just last week, Amazon announced a major event: Kindle book sales had finally passed paperback books sales on Amazon.com. (Last year, Kindle book sales outpaced hardcovers.)
With all of this swirling about (and very little mention of what this means for libraries), what should I see on our shelving truck?
Gregory K. Laughlin has a new article in the University of Baltimore Law Review: "Digitization and Democracy: The Conflict Between the Amazon Kindle License Agreement and the Role of Libraries in a Free Society." (Volume 40, Number 1, Fall 2010)
Laughlin asks "whether libraries may lend e-books to patrons without violating the copyright owners' exclusive right of distribution." He continues:
"Amazon, in the license agreement to which a purchaser of a Kindle e-book must assent prior to downloading the e-book, retains ownership of the "Digital Content" (i.e. the e-book), and imposes a number of restrictions that are inconsistent with transfer of ownership to the purchaser, including prohibiting redistribution. If libraries are not owners of the Kindle e-books they acquire, then by the explicit terms of the Amazon license agreement, as well as Section 106 of the Copyright Act, they may not lend the e-books to their patrons."
"Are the license terms prohibiting the lending of e-books (and other digital content) enforceable under existing law? . . . If so, should the Copyright Act be amended to provide libraries with an inalienable right to lend e-books that is equivalent to their current right to lend printed books?"
Laughlin argues: "The right of libraries to lend e-books to their patrons should be inalienable…. There is still time for society as a whole to establish definitively what rights a library has to lend e-books that it acquires. Congress should guarantee that the interests of the reading public are protected; and it should do so in a way that guarantees the same freedom of access to e-books that the public has enjoyed with physical books for well over a century."